The Israeli security policy in the last year has no small part in the fact that the phenomenon of terrorism has strengthened in northern West Bank and gradually turned into a wave of terrorism that is now flooding the West Bank from the north to the south.
The Bennett and Lapid governments, with the consent of Defense Minister Gantz, did not thoroughly deal with the new terrorist groups that arose in the northern West Bank and slowly spread to the cities of Jenin, Nablus, Tulkarm and the surrounding villages.
The policy of these governments was to strengthen the PA in accordance with the demand of the Biden administration, but not to harm the Palestinian Authority’s governance following the great erosion of its position on the Palestinian side following Israel’s military operation in the Gaza Strip in May 2021.
Defense Minister Benny Gantz met several times during this period with PA Chairman Abu Mazen and granted a series of financial, economic and humanitarian concessions to the PA , but on the other hand, the security establishment ignored the deterioration of the security situation in the northern West Bank and the fact that the Palestinian Authority gradually lost control of the area.
This is how the phenomenon of the new “battalions” established by the Islamic Jihad, which includes new terrorist groups including terrorists from different factions, was created in the area. The phenomenon began after the escape of the 6 terrorists from Gilboa Prison in September 2021. Initially, the “Jenin Battalion” was established, and then the phenomenon spread to other parts of the West Bank and such battalions were formed in Tulkarm , Nablus, and the town of Tubas, in Nablus the “Lions Den” group was also established.
The IDF contented itself with an extensive arrest operation to curb the terrorism of these groups against IDF soldiers and the settlers according to the order of the political echelon which avoided a large military operation to uproot these groups.
The “Lions Den” group from Nablus managed to challenge the IDF and thanks to several successful attacks and the support of the Palestinian media gained a special status in the Palestinian street, however, the IDF and the Shin Bet came to their senses late and acted against it inside the city of Nablus, which led to the beginning of its disintegration.
The West Bank is saturated with hatred
and frustration against Israel’s policy and the willingness of the younger generation for a violent confrontation with Israel through the new terrorist groups that have arisen, but these groups do not have the power to bring about a new intifada for several reasons.
A. The military power of the IDF is much stronger than the military power of these groups.
The IDF is deployed in the West Bank in a good way and with large forces.
B. The Fatah movement is officially opposed to a new intifada and there are differences of opinion between the Palestinian factions regarding the benefit of a new intifada at the current time.
C. The Chairman of the PA Abu Mazen fears that a new intifada will undermine his rule and harm the orderly transfer of power to his successor Hussein al-Sheikh.
D.The USA, the European Union and the moderate Arab countries are pressuring PA Chairman Abu Mazen not to allow the security situation in the West Bank to deteriorate, they want to preserve normalization with Israel.
They believe that this is not the time to renew negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority and await the stabilization of the government in Israel.
The world is preoccupied with the war in Ukraine and its economic consequences and not with the Palestinian problem.
E. The Palestinian public in the West Bank opposes a new intifada mainly for economic reasons, it knows from past experience that the burden of the intifada will fall on it and that there is no certainty that it will succeed in expelling the Israeli government.
Although individual terrorists have also begun to carry out inspired attacks in addition to the organized terrorist groups, Israel can curb the wave of terrorism with correct and determined military conduct, it needs to maintain its national resilience, take a heavy hand against the terrorists but avoid collective punishment of the Palestinian public that is not involved in terrorism.
Israel should be careful to conduct itself cautiously at the Temple Mount in a way that does not hurt the feelings of Muslims because this is the main trigger that ignites the wave of terrorism encouraged by the wild incitement of Hamas, the northern faction of the Islamic movement in Israel, the PA and Jordan.
